Desert Born
by HypnoLullaby
Summary: Running away, Uzumaki Naruto wound up in a cave, with no place to go. A suspicious scroll on top of a gigantic treasure called for his attention, and he quickly performed the technique to activate it, summoning the Strawhat Pirates. Out of boredom and pity, these friends decide to train him and hand him the Suna Suna no Mi, for him to survive. NarutoxTemari And Tenten


Chapter 1

Cold. Pain. Fatigue. Fear. Vexation. These were the words that described poor, little, fragile Naruto's feelings about his current situation.

It had been the fourth time that week that he was chased and assaulted by the mob of villagers, but the first time in his life where he ended up in a dark, freezing cave. It was impressive how many hidden places Konoha had, even to someone who had had to search every single nook and cranny to hide and survive in.

Dozens of shrieks came to life as he lit up a colony of bats with the small flashlight he had pocketed months ago. He didn't mind as they flew by, since his apartment block was infestated with pretty much every plague known to mankind. No kind of parasite could even begin to make him feel uncomfortable.

"HEY! HE'S DOWN HERE!"- one of the villagers alerted as he looked inside, illuminating the place with a lit torch. _Crap._ Naruto thought to himself as he rushed away.

The whole cave was, apparently, the minotaur's labyrinth's distant brother. The pathways were almost perfectly designed so that only one person could go at a time, and every turn he took only confused him further, since every place looked exactly the same as the last one.

He stopped. There wasn't anything up ahead. Just a gigantic, dark abyss. The six year old boy turned around to see the first of the villagers approach, torch ready in hand, an evil smirk on his face. Naruto ultimately decided that whatever was in the abyss could not do worse than the psychotic adult in front of him, took a deep breath, and jumped.

"FUCK! THE DEMON BRAT JUST JUMPED DOWN THERE!"- the man shouted as Naruto felt the air rush through his clothes, falling faster and faster.

"Leave him. No one could make that jump."- someone answered. The boy didn't question him, when he suddenly felt something really hard hit his torso, taking all of the air out of his lungs and sending a burning sensation through his nervous system.

He tried to yell out in pain, but he realized he was underwater. His arms flapped around desperately, quickly bringing him to the surface. His assailants were no longer there, but it didn't change the fact that there was no path up. _Thank God for the moonlight._ He thought to himself, since the sun's reflection was the only thing that let him see anything at all.

He bowed his head down to find out that there was a path below the water. _Sweet Lady Luck, don't leave me now._ A deep breath and a dive later, he was swimming as fast as he could in a frenzied crawl through the water, going down and under the rocks.

He knew not what was in the water with him, but he was sure something was there, since he had frisked against moving things a couple of times, which only added to his speed.

Finally, after two whole minutes of swimming and holding his breath, he managed to grab and climb onto a "platform". Naruto shook his head as he rolled around on the cold floor, gasping for air.

As one of his eyes opened slightly, he caught a glimpse of light. Yellow light, from his side. Gathering his bearings and standing up, he realized what was causing the shine.

Mere metres away was a gigantic pile of gold coins, rubies, diamonds, emeralds, silver, bronze, any kind of jewelry, many rich crowns, chests and more chests.

The whole bunch gleamed with yellow light, as if inviting Naruto to come over and take a look. As he approached, still taking deep breaths, he noticed that on top of the pile rested a single scroll the size of a baby elephant. The blond recognized it as a summoning contract, something his little friend Tenten had told him about. _She said hers summoned weapons, but that they could summon other things too. Maybe it can get me out of here._ He thought.

Naruto climbed the mountain of riches, stepping on treasure maps and golden ingots, making his way to the scroll. He finally managed to reach it, and found out he could actually sit on top of everything while reading it.

"Strawhat Pirates Su-Summoning Contract. Description of the Summoning Technique inclu-included?"- he was having a hard time reading those words, but he had the general idea of what it was about. At least he thought so.

"Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram..."- he read as he performed said handseals. _Thank God Tenten made me learn this._

He bit his thumb, wincing a bit at the pain before crossing his palm with the blood and mashing it on the floor.

"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"

He waited a few moments, expecting some loud bang of some sort. But nothing happened. Maybe it was just a stupid old scroll that didn't work.

He sighed, turned around and started looking for another way out. He climbed down the pile, tears were already falling down his eyes. Why was life this way? Why did people hate him? What had he done that was so wrong?

He sat down with his legs crossed and grasped his own face with his two hands, crying into them. His cries grew louder and louder. He had never hurt anyone in any way, yet people hurt him every week as much as they could. He had done nothing and gotten punished in return. Now, because of just existing, he was inside a cave, with all the gold in the world and surrounded by cold water. And he was going to die. And like the six year old child he was, he cried.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Kid, are you ok?"- a voice asked. The boy jumped and turned around to see a blond man who kept his short hair covering the right upper side of his face. He had eyebrows that formed spirals at the end and his eyes were steel-grey. He also wore a dark blue suit and was holding a cigarette with his free hand.

As Naruto backed up, he could see there more people behind him, all eyeing him curiously. He thought he was going to freak.

"W-Who are you people? How did you get here?"- he asked, frightened, almost falling back into the water. A green-haired man stepped up. He carried three sheathed swords, bundled up with a green haramaki. He had a scar crossing his naked chest, and another one over his left eye. He also wore a long, dark-green coat which was closed with a red sash and a pair of black pants.

"We're the Strawhat Pirates. I'm Roronoa Zoro, I'm the crew's swordsman. That's our Captain, Luffy, our archeologist, Robin, our medic, Chopper, our shipwright, Franky, our musician, Brook, our navigator, Nami, our sniper, Usopp and the blond guy is our shitty cook, Sanji."- he answered, pointing to a strawhat-wearing, muscular guy, to a glasses-wearing, dark-haired woman, to a small, deformed moose, to what appeared to be a cyborg, to an afro-wearing skeleton, to a pretty lady, to a big-nosed guy and then to the man who talked to him in the first place.

"Shut up, moss-head."

"Guys! Cut it out! Don't you see that the poor kid is terrified!?"- Chopper interveined, and true enough, Naruto was horrified. His face betrayed his feeling of just running away. But that hypothesis was cut out when Robin and Nami appeared by his side, holding him and poking him and playing with his cheeks.

"HE'S SO CUUUUTE!"- they both exclaimed, having Brook and Franky facepalm.

"I truly wish I was dead right now."- the skeleton confessed.- "Do any of you even have a sense of seriousness? Little child, we are the Strawhat Pirates. We will not hurt you, I promise. Now, come closer if you want to know why we're here."

…...

"So, Luffy became the Pirate King when he got One Piece, but people were going to come after it, and you guys opened a Portal to send it over here?"

"Yup, pretty much. Robin did all of the work with sigyls, since she had read about your universe long before. We left the scroll where the treasure was so that someone as soon as someone got near it, we'd come a few seconds later. Truly, the whole Summoning Technique thing was just a clever ruse to delay the person long enough for us to arrive."- Brook replied.

"Wow, you guys are really smart."

"That we are. Now tell me, child, why were you crying when we came?"

Naruto lowered his head in sadness.

"I found this place when I was running from the villagers of Konoha. I have to run from them at least six times every week. They hate me. Everybody hates me. When I fell down into the water, I thought I was going to die. Maybe it isn't so bad, dying."

"Believe me, child, for I speak with the voice of experience. Dying is horrible. Those villagers may hurt you, and you may feel like you hate everything. But that only proves you are alive."

Luffy smiled as he saw Brook trying to help the boy. He himself had been a pitiful little thing once. And he had gotten something that had helped him inumerous times.

As he recalled how he had eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi, he contemplated the other fruit who was firmly grasped in his hand.

…...

**Flashback**

"...what...the...fuck?...Why?"- the dark-haired, strawhat-wearing boy asked as he saw Crocodile, knelt in front of him, impaled on Akainu's magma fist, blood gurgling out of the wound. Luffy had been saved yet again, on the same day.

"Mugiwara no Luffy (I'm using Japanese here because of Croc's way of speaking, don't kill me.), my life has been something rather ridiculous and unnecessary so far. I've realized that. It has been filled up with criminal endeavors and actions that only cause pain and suffering. I am rather disgusted at who I became, and at how easily I gave up on my dreams."

Everyone at Marineford had stopped their fights to see the man's death. Crocodile chuckled to himself.

"I made a huge mistake, and I'm glad I didn't kill you three times. I'm, however, proud of myself for beating you to a pulp several times and making you gather allies and strengthen yourself in order to become the Pirate King, just like I wanted to."

He looked at his own hands and made sand spiral around them.

"I've used these powers for Evil and I regret it deeply. However, I will not die with regrets! Boy, give me a fruit!"- Crocodile demanded. Luffy looked at Sanji who snagged an orange out of his pocket, throwing it at the Baroque Works' Leader. He always did have Vitamin C handy.

Crocodile reacted quickly despite the massive fist that was still impaling his chest, snatching the fruit out of the air, holding it between both hands and focusing.

"Now, before I die, I want you to know something. I'm a man of my word. So, in order to redeem myself, I will transfer the powers of the Suna Suna no Mi into this fruit. The process will kill me. But it was worth it. Also, this is for the one you choose to give the Suna Suna to."- Crocodile took a letter out of his pocket, handing it over to Luffy before focusing on the orange on his hands again.

The future Pirate King couldn't believe his eyes. The man who had tried to kill him not once, not twice, but three times, and who had planned to take over the Kingdom of Alabasta was now sacrificing his life for his own, and trying to make up for his mistakes. Obviously, he had planned to do so beforehand, which only made Luffy respect him more.

"Here you go. And Luffy, good luck."- Crocodile handed him the orange which was now the colour of sand with many swirls that looked like hurricanes on it, before coughing out more blood. Akainu had removed his fist and was ready to deliver the last, merciful blow.

"You...you were a good man. I'll make sure everyone thinks of you that way."

"I'm sure you will. Now go!"

Luffy jumped and started to run away just as Akainu's fist went through Crocodile's cranium.

…...

The Pirate King winced at the memory as he took the letter out of his pocket. Still looked the same as the day it was delivered to him. Untampered.

"I think you should do it."

He turned his head to see Zoro, leaning against the pile of ingots that Luffy was sitting in. He always had given good advice, and this time was no exception.

"I am going to do it. I'm just thinking, that maybe it's not enough."

"What do you mean?"

Luffy hopped off of the pile and started walking, signaling for Zoro to follow him.

"Robin has told me about this universe. It is in no way less dangerous than ours, and this little boy has to take on all of it by himself. Sure, the Suna Suna no Mi can help him, but that only took Crocodile so far."

"I see. You think we should help him further?"

"Yeah, we could at least stay and train him for a while. It's not like we have anywhere to be."

"Alright. You've got my approval, Luffy."

With that said and done, the Captain approached Naruto, who was still talking with Brook and Sanji. Things seemed alot smoother now, since Brook was playing music while the two blonds discussed which ramen type was better.

"Alright, Naruto, listen up. The thing is, we could go home right now if we wanted to. But we don't. We've got our whole lives ahead of us and we've already accomplished everything. We need a couple of years to set our minds and think about what we're going to do. We want to spend them here. It's a pretty place, we've got everything we could want and no one will bother us. As long as you keep us a secret, that is."

"To buy your silence, and to do what we think is right, we'll be training you in our various battle styles and specialties. I'll be teaching you general combat along with Chopper, Zoro and Brook will teach you fencing, Sanji will teach you the Black Leg style, and the others will teach you other, more practical things. Also, we've got a gift for you."

He showed Naruto the cursed orange, which immediately caught the blond's full attention, since he had never witnessed anything alike.

"This is a Devil Fruit. I'll explain more later, but right now, all you need to know is that if you take a bite out of this, you'll be able to create, control and become sand. It's the Suna Suna no Mi. But, as a counterpart, if you get inside water that is above your waist level, you'll be paralized, and will therefore die if not helped. Do you understand? Do you want to eat it?"

It only took Naruto a couple of seconds to calculate before he nodded and took the fruit. No more being chased down like a dog. No more beatings. No more anything.

"Alright. Then get ready. These next few years are not going to be easy."

Naruto nodded again, took a deep breath and took a bite out of the fruit. He had no idea how much his life was going to change, but hell, anything was better than this.

(Chapter 1 for you mates. I hope you enjoyed it, since I didn't get to put any action into it. But it was a freaking prologue, so what the hell. Also, you should all thank .5 for requesting this fic. Anyway, as always, Favorite, Follow and Review, it makes me write faster. Love ya all mates, see ya.)


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